Cambodia Trade Act of 2019
This bill directs the President to report on Cambodia's classification under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a U.S. trade preference program that provides duty-free access to imports on products from certain developing countries. (Currently, Cambodia is a beneficiary of the GSP program.)
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1376 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1376
To require a report on the continuing participation of Cambodia in the
Generalized System of Preferences.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 26, 2019
Mr. Lowenthal (for himself and Mr. Chabot) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a report on the continuing participation of Cambodia in the
Generalized System of Preferences.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Cambodia Trade Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power in Cambodia
since 1985 and is the longest-serving leader in Southeast Asia.
(2) The Paris Peace Accords in 1991 provided a vital
framework, supported by the United States, European Union, and
Japan, intended to help Cambodia undertake a transition to
democracy, including through elections and multiparty
democracy.
(3) For more than 25 years, the United States Government
has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid
and other types of assistance to the people of Cambodia,
including preferential trade treatment.
(4) In 1997, the United States included Cambodia in the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which extends
specialized duty-free exports to developing nations.
(5) The Trade Act of 1974 establishes conditions of
eligibility for inclusion in GSP, including ``whether or not
other major developed countries are extending generalized
preferential tariff treatment to such country'', and ``whether
or not such country has taken or is taking steps to afford to
workers in that country (including any designated zone in that
country) internationally recognized worker rights''.
(6) The two sectors in Cambodia's economy that benefits
from GSP are garment and handbag production. The garment
industry is the largest employer in Cambodia's economy and
accounts for nearly half of gross domestic product growth. The
sector employs more than 700,000 Cambodians, most of whom are
women. In 2018, Human Rights Watch warned that these women are
often subjected to forced overtime and pregnancy-based
discrimination, and denied paid maternity leave.
(7) In 2015, Human Rights Watch released a broader study on
the garment sector in Cambodia with the following finding:
``[Labor rights abuses] include forced overtime and retaliation
against those who sought exemption from overtime, lack of rest
breaks, denial of sick leave, use of underage child labor, and
the use of union-busting strategies to thwart independent
unions.''.
(8) In October 2017, the Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR) announced a new triennial process to
assess GSP beneficiary country eligibility. The first
assessment period covered 25 Asian and Pacific Island GSP
beneficiary countries. For each such country, USTR and other
United States Government agencies examined the country's
policies and practices related to each of the 15 eligibility
criteria established by Congress, including respecting arbitral
awards in favor of United States citizens or corporations,
combating child labor, respecting internationally recognized
worker rights, providing adequate and effective intellectual
property protection, reducing barriers to services trade and
investment, and providing the United States with equitable and
reasonable market access. In April 2018, USTR announced that it
is reviewing the eligibility of India, Indonesia, and
Kazakhstan in the GSP program based on concerns about the
countries' compliance with the program. This review did not
mention Cambodia.
(9) In the 2017 Human Rights Report, the Department of
State warned: ``Labor inspectors did not enforce labor
standards in the informal sector or in unlicensed workplaces.
In the formal sector, sources reported labor inspectors
conducted routine inspections only in registered garment and
footwear factories, where the incidence of child labor remained
extremely low.''.
(10) In its country-specific Cambodia report in 2017, the
Department of Labor stated: ``When child labor inspections do
occur, they are concentrated in the city of Phnom Penh, as well
as in the provincial, formal-sector factories producing goods
for export, such as textiles and garments.''.
(11) In 2018, the Department of Labor released a report on
goods produced by child labor pursuant to the Trafficking
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, and identified
Cambodia as one of four countries, including the People's
Republic of China, which produces textiles with child labor.
(12) The European Union established ``Everything But Arms''
(EBA) in 2001, a comparable GSP program, which included
Cambodia. The European Union began the formal process of
reviewing Cambodia's inclusion in EBA in 2018 in response to
Prime Minister Hun Sen's authoritarian manipulation of the 2018
general elections, which included imprisoning Cambodia National
Rescue Party (CNRP) President Kem Sokha, dissolving CNRP, and
closing independent newspapers and radio stations.
(13) On February 11, 2019, the European Commission launched
a procedure that could lead to suspension of Cambodia from EBA
trade preferences. In the announcement the Commission stated:
``Following a period of enhanced engagement, including a fact-
finding mission to Cambodia in July 2018 and subsequent
bilateral meetings at the highest level, the Commission has
concluded that there is evidence of serious and systematic
violations of core human rights and labour rights in Cambodia,
in particular of the rights to political participation as well
as of the freedoms of assembly, expression and association.
These findings add to the longstanding EU concerns about the
lack of workers' rights and disputes linked to economic land
concessions in the country.''.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON THE CONTINUING PARTICIPATION OF CAMBODIA IN THE
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES.
(a) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate committees
of Congress a report setting forth the following:
(1) A determination as to whether, if its status as such
were reviewed, the Government of Cambodia would meet the
criteria in sections 501 and 502(c) of the Trade Act of 1974
(19 U.S.C. 2461, 2462(c)) for designation as--
(A) a beneficiary developing country; or
(B) a least-developed beneficiary developing
country.
(2) A decision as to whether the application of duty-free
treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences to the
Government of Cambodia should be withdrawn, suspended, or
limited pursuant to section 502(d) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19
U.S.C. 2462(d)).
(b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted
in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(c) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
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